forever and ever
by Sonslover101
Summary: Norma Louise Bates life finally falls into place, and she can finally put the past behind her. She finds love, parenthood (again), And happiness.
1. L

In my life, I've never had that person that I knew was right for me, that guy who knew me inside and out, who loved me no matter what, who showed me what love even was. I settled for what I could get, and forgot about the idea of the right guy. I found love in the form of my kids, of course a very different love. It wasn't until that I learned what it is to love a man, truly.

Of course things didn't start out the best, he almost arrested me for murder and a few other things… but once I got to know him, I felt safe with him.

We had something before we got "married" it wasn't something established, or obvious, but it was there. I can't describe it very well, but it was a weird feeling of care for him, and it was mutual. We didn't do anything about it in that time, but we were always on the verge of doing something about it. This feeling changed, and it's hard to know exactly when. But I'm going with my heart when I say it was the moment he pulled out a real diamond wedding ring, and placed it on my finger. Yes we were getting married, but it was just for the insurance. I hadn't even gotten him a ring and certainly wasn't expecting one from him. Then, on the steps outside the courthouse he kissed me, since we had to make it look real. That kiss was a confused one, but still made my heart skip a beat.

Then something clicked, and while faking a love for each other in public, we found a real one in private. He made me feel special, and cared for. He treated me like nobody had treated me before, with respect and gentleness.

And now here we are, a year later. Norman is still at pine view, and will be staying for a long time. While I miss him at home I can't have him in the house, there's too much at stake. I walk into the kitchen to see Emma sitting at the table, with a plate full of eggs. "I made breakfast for everybody Norma" she says as I walk over and kiss the top of her head. "Thank you honey, looks lovely. She hands me a fork full of eggs. I grab a plate and start eating, noticing how good of a cook she is. "Hey do you think I could book a room, just for a couple nights?" I'm a little concerned, but I nod. "Why do you need a room?" She thinks a moment. "Well, there's just some stuff going on at home, it'd be nice to get away from it all" I smile gently. "Honey why don't you just come stay in the house?" She opens her eyes a little more, surprised I offered. "Well, I don't want to be a bother, I just thought it would be easier to stay in a room." I smile. "Come stay with us, you're no bother at all." She smiles. "Okay, are you sure?" "Of course!"

After I finish my food I walk up towards the bedroom and lay down in the bed next Alex. He grabs my hand and holds it tight. "Good morning" he says. "Good morning, how'd you sleep?" "Pretty good, I-" I hear the door slam as Emma leaves and within seconds he's up, giving me the look. I laugh "geez, somebody's ready" I say as he looks longingly. We've been kind of trying for a baby, at my age it might not happen so we're not all in, but if it happens it happens. He has been rather excited, and hopeful. " remember we've got plenty of time today" he smiles "all the more reason to start now" I laugh as I pull him over. He looks into my eyes with that same look he gave me that night at the lights show, love. I pull him into a kiss and soon one thing leads to another…

I love how gentle he is with me, he always has been. The way he tickles behind my ear, and plays with my hair. Sex was never a beautiful thing with Sam or anybody else for that matter, but with Alex it is.

We lay in bed for a while, enjoying each others presence. While the prospect of having another child is great, I would hate to lose this precious time between us. It all started when Emma was scheduled to babysit for her friend, and ended up going to the hospital. We took care of the baby, and the 2 year old for Emma. While I tried to soothe the screaming baby Alex was downstairs reading to the 2 year old. I finally got her sleeping, and turn around to see Alex looking at me lovingly. He walked over and wrapped his arm around us, admiring my parenting skills. Since then he's been crazy about having a baby, considering he was never a dad. I had thought about it in the past, but not seriously. I am just afraid, because we have been so happy, that I almost want it to take a while to get pregnant so that we can share this precious time together. But, in the past I didn't have to try very hard, it took one time to get pregnant with Dylan, and one month for Norman. And then there was Rose… I hadn't told him about her yet. Sam and I had gotten pregnant again after Norman, when he was about 12. We were about to tell the boys, excited and anxious. But then the night before… I woke up bleeding. It was nothing to Sam, he just said so what it's another kid. But to me, it was heartbreaking. I had always wanted a girl, I had already named her, and planned it all out in my head. I still wonder what she'd be like. In fact a lot of times I envision her a lot like Emma, kind, respectful, and loving. There's a reason I've always loved Emma.

As we lay there, thinking about her, a tear trickles down my face. I wipe it away and try to forget about it. I get up and walk towards the bathroom, as he admires my body. It's something I love about him, he knows exactly what I'm self-conscious about, and compliments me about that area. I wash up and put my robe on. I walk down to the kitchen and hear a car pulling up. It's Emma, with her bag of stuff. She walks up to the house as I watch out the window. She's so perfect, although I don't tell her often I love her, very much. She walks in and smiles at me. "Hey dear! what ya got there?" she opens her bag. "Mostly dildos, sex toys, pack of condoms" She says with a laugh. Of course it's clothes, but she knows how to make me laugh. "Nice. you got tampons in there?" I see her look at me with the face of regret. "Up in the spare bathroom, I bought some earlier for you." She smiles. "Thank you so much" "Hey, we're both girls, that's what I always forget" She laughs as she walks up the stairs.


	2. O

Later on as I make dinner I hear the tv flicker on. I walk into the living room and see her sitting there, looking bored. "You want to help me with dinner?" She looks up, realizing i'm there. "Oh, yeah. What do you need help with?" I love how ready to help she is. "I could use some help on the potatoes" She grabs the bowl and bag of potatoes. "Sure"

Alex comes down and sits at the table with us. "Hi honey" I say as he kisses my cheek. I pass the chicken around, and smile as I look at this little family. Highly unconventional one, fake husband, fake daughter, but still I love it. It's more like the family I wish I had. In ways Romero and I are really together, but if we were we wouldn't be married yet. It's still weird how it all happened. I get up as the phone rings. "Hello?" "Hi is this Norma Bates?" "This is" "m'am, your son Norman would like to speak with you" "okay put him on" Alex looks over at me with concern. "Hi mother" "Hi honey, how's it going" "Good, Dr. Says i'm doing better. How is Alex?" "He's good, sitting here eating with us" "who's us?" "Him, Emma and I" "Oh, for a second I thought you were trying to tell me something" We had told him that we might get pregnant sometime soon, just to keep what happened when he found out about Alex and I from happening again. "No, just us" "Well i'll let you get back to dinner, love you mother" "love you too Norman"

"What did he have to say?" Alex looks a little worried. "Just wanted to say hi. You know he actually sounded really good over the phone. I think he's doing better." "good" he says with a smile. We continue to eat and I smile as I yet again look at my family. If only things were perfect, Dylan and Norman would be here.

"So, the plan for tomorrow is as follows: I have to go to the store, i'll be gone most of the day, Alex has to fix the pipe in room 3, and Emma you can work on the log book." I say with a managerial tone. "Got it" they say. I laugh as they salute me. "So, how long until Norman can come home?" Emma asks knowing she shouldn't. "I don't know" I say inquizitivly. It's hard, becuase he's been doing better but at the same time the things he did and said, make me not want him around ever. I hate to say it, but things work better with him gone. He was getting in the way of my happiness, and all this time I had thought he WAS my happiness. It's confusing.

I get up to go to the bathroom quickly, and look outside to see a beautiful night sky. I open the door and walk out onto porch. Alex and Emma follow me. "Look at how beautiful it is" I say as I look up. And then I look down, at Emma and Alex, and realize that this entire world is beautiful, and suddenly feel thankful. I pull them into a hug and feel my heart smile.

As I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I hear Alex coming up the stairs. I quikly close my eyes and pretend to be asleep. He walks in and pauses for a moment, and I just know he's looking at me. He comes in and lays next to me, wrapping his arm around my waist. He kisses my head and whispers "I love you" I can't believe he says it even though i'm sleeping. This is the first night that I felt true happiness.


	3. v

2 weeks later.

Emma walks in and sits down next to me on the couch. I pull her into my embrace, a cuddle I guess you could say. She has been continuing to stay with us, things at home have only gotten worse, so I've stepped in to be her mother, and Alex her father. She has told us numerous times how thankful she is. I love having her around, so it's not that big of a deal to have her stay. Alex and I had half jokingly half seriously talked about adopting her. She sinks into my embrace with my arm around her. I kiss the top of her head. It's the little things that remind her how important she is to us. I can almost feel the smile on her face. "Oh sorry, am I crushing the baby?" She says with a laugh as she realizes she's leaning on my belly. She's been making jokes about me being pregnant ever since I told her we were trying. "I told you I'd tell you if I am." She smiles. She leans back into me, underneath my arm, hand on my stomach comfortably. "I'll be honest I'd really enjoy it if you were. I never got the pregnancy experience with my sister and brother, My mom didn't want me close, so no baby's moving or kicks, I never once even touched her belly." I feel bad for her, while it sounds kind of weird these are really cool experiences to never had experienced. "Well, WHEN that happens, I'll make sure you feel her plenty. You and she will be very close by the time she comes out" She smiles at me. "How do you know she'll be a girl?" I notice what I've done. She is right, I have decided it will be a girl, even though I'm not even pregnant yet. "Well, I think it's time I told you." she perks up as if I'm about to tell her my biggest secret ever. And in a way I am. "After I had Norman, about 12 years after, I got pregnant again." I can see the confusion on her face. "It was a girl, and her name was going to be Rose." she smiles. "I love that name" "But we lost her, at about 20 weeks" I see her emotion on her face. A tear trickles down my face. "But it's okay because I was blessed with another daughter, one who's better if not the same" She looks at me confused. "And her name's Emma" Her eyes start to water as she understands what I'm saying. "And I love her so much, I've just been too afraid to tell her." She starts to cry. "And she loves you too, more than you could ever imagine." I pull her in close as we both cry. She has grown up with I love you being a scarce sentence and hugs a non-existing occurrence. I know how important these things are to her, which is why I hug her every day, I just hadn't gotten to the point of I love you yet.

Alex comes home to a quiet house, except for the tv. He walks into the living room to find Emma and I in the same snuggle position. A smile is painted on his face as he sees Emmas hand layed gently on My stomach, hopefully awaiting the day a baby will be on the other side. He grabs a blanket and drapes it over us, and snaps a picture on his phone. Then walks quietly to the bedroom.

I wake up to a sleeping Emma on my chest. I see her head moving up and down as I breathe and laugh quietly. The movement wakes her up, and she startles. Her hair is a big mess, and her makeup is smudged, but still she's beautiful. "Good morning dearest" I say. "Oh gosh, I didn't realize we fell asleep like that" she says, laughing. "I didn't want to wake you up once I realized you were asleep" "Thanks" she says with a smile. She get up and walks toward the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water. I get up, walking toward the window. "Hey honey!" I shout to Alex upstairs. "Yeah!" "did you call the mower today?" "Oh shit I forgot, I'll get right on it hon" "It's fine" I walk upstairs to the bedroom, where he sits with the phone in his hand. I take it out of his hand put one knee up on the bed next to him. "What are you doing?" "Let's make a baby" I say, and in no time at all we are…

2 days later.

I wake up to someone knocking at the door. It's a familiar knock. "Hi Dylan, what are you doing here?" "can't I stop in on my mom?" I smile, as i'm used to being called Norma. He walks in and gives me a hug, another thing rarely done. "Okay, what do you want?" I say half joking. "Geez, can't I just be nice?" "Yes. I'm just joking, you're just acting, different. "Well, if you must know. I was wondering if I could borrow some cash. Just a thousand, I have a payment plan worked out. I just have been getting shorter shifts, so i'm going to be behind on bills unless you can help me out." I smile, seeing his vulnerability. "Okay, for you I will." He smiles. "Thank you so much, I knew you were good for something" He says with a laugh. Alex comes in from the living room and smiles. "Hey Alex, how ya doing?" "pretty good son, how about you?" I remember when Alex first met Dylan, he was always mad that he called him son. I had to explain to him that it doesn't mean your his son, it's the man version of honey. "Good, just a little behind this month." Alex laughs. "But hey, that's what you've got mom's for" we all laugh.

Later on as I walk down to the motel I see it's busy, with tons of trucks and cars here for the weekend. The summer is the best season around here. "Hey Norma" Emma says as I walk in. "Hey girly, how's it going today?" She laughs as she looks at her growing book of to do's. "You know, just another day in paradise" she says with a laugh.


	4. e

I walk out on the porch and sink into the chair. My hands folded over my stomach I sit and think about life. About the life that will hopefully be, and could very well be inside me right now. About the life I have chosen for myself. About everything. Emma walks out on the porch and sits down next to me. "So, how are you feeling?" Is the first thing she says. "What do you mean?" I know she knows something is up. "I don't know what it is, but something is changing you lately. Now i'm not saying I don't love it, you've been a lot sweeter and happier, but I want to know what's causing that change." She is pretty straight forward, which I love. "Well, having you and Alex here is reminding me what to be thankful for, and i've just been having a lot better moods lately. I have an amazing husband, daughter, and maybe even a baby on the way." Her little ears perk up at this news, I know she's excited at the idea of a baby. "Well, I am planning on taking a test next week, I'm just waiting to see." She smiles. "Well does that mean you're having symptoms?" I laugh. "Not really, but I didn't with my other pregnancies. It's just good to check. For some reason something keeps telling me to be excited, but I don't know. I also don't know if i'm taking the test at the right time, it doesn't show up for a while after conception." I laugh as I see her trail off with all my medical jargon. " basically I might be taking it too soon. We'll see."

1 week later. I pee on the damn stick like everybody does, and set it on the counter to wait. I don't know why but i'm really excited, something feels good about this one. I check my phone as I wait, and an ad for baby diapers pops up, giving me even more excitement. The timer on my phone goes off, and I set it down. My heart is pumping, racing even. I pick up the stick with my eyes closed, open them and … negative. I'm instantly confused. I felt it, don't the moms know when they are? Isn't that how it works, how could my whole body tell me I am, and then somehow i'm not? I throw out the stick and walk out, a lone tear coming down my face before I wipe it away.

I walk into the kitchen and see Alex walking up to the house. Just seeing him there makes another tear come down as I rush into his arms the moment he comes in the door. His embrace helps a bit. "Hey, baby what's going on" His choice of name hits me hard. I start to cry for real, feeling the salty tears sting my face. "It's negative" is all I can say. "Oh honey" he says as he takes me inside. "It's okay"

We decide to just order pizza. I don't feel like going downstairs for dinner, so I eat in my bed watching tv. The notebook is on, go figure. I eat silently as I listen for Emma to come home. Finally, the door opens and shuts, and I hear Alex tell her i'm upstairs. She stops in the bathroom first, then comes in looking a little bewildered. "Hey honey" I say, watching her scoot in next to me and grab a bite of my pizza. She looks at me anxiously. "So, when are you going to tell me?" I sigh. "Honey, it was negative." she wrinkles her brow and scrunches her face. "What are you talking about?" "The test it was" "I know about the test, but it wasn't negative. I was just in there and I saw it in the trash can, little plus sign on it. I was asking when you were going to tell me you were pregnant." I feel in shock, not believing a word she's saying. I rush out of the bed and into the bathroom. Low and behold, a positive pregnancy test sits there, where the negative one had sat earlier. "But, I don't understand, I took it earlier and it said negative" "sometimes they take longer, take another one and see." I follow her directions and we sit on the edge of the bed waiting.

My nerves are all bundled up inside me, not wanting to let go. I look at Emma, and then quickly at my phone as the timer goes off. "Okayy" I say picking it up. "Ahhhhhh!" I scream as I read the teeny plus sign. Emma joins in and within seconds Alex is upstairs with a frying pan in one hand and a knife in the other. "What?! What?!" We look at him and bust out laughing, all ready for war. I walk over to him as he puts the items down. I say quietly "I'm pregnant" it takes him a moment to really believe it, but as soon as he does he places a kiss to my lips, holding me tight. "Are you serious?" he asks finally. I let my hand slide down to my belly. "I think" I say.

We all sit out on the porch, looking up at the stars. Emma's on the two person chair snuggled up to me with one hand around me and one on my belly. She couldn't be more excited. "So tomorrow I have an appointment with my doctor just to be sure, but yeah… I'm pregnant" I say, though it still sounds weird coming out of my mouth.


	5. -

One week later.

I am certainly tired today. I woke up to water gushing all over the kitchen floor, the main pipe burst. Then somebody started a fire in one of the rooms making popcorn, and Emma had issues breathing so we had to take her to the emergency room. Now i'm sitting with her in her room waiting for them to tell us if we can take her home tonight or not. "I'm fine, you can go home" she says as I grab her hand. I squeeze it tightly. "I'm not letting you stay here alone." "well what if I have to stay the night?" "then i'll stay here" She gives me the mom look. "You are not staying here. My sibling is in there and i'm not making them listen to you gripe and groan about how bad your back hurts tomorrow" We both laugh as I hit her arm. "Geez, okay then" I say with a laugh. "Can you at least try to get a good night's sleep? If not for me then for the baby." I smile, and look down at my flat belly. "Okay, I promise" She smiles at me, looking for the happiness in my eyes to come back. "Just keep in mind that just because today was a bad day doesn't mean things are going to go back to how they were, it's just one day." "I know, i'm just worried."

"So it looks like everything is okay for her to go home, she probably had a kink in her tube, we'll get her a new one before she leaves." I smile at the doctor. "Great, thank you so much." Alright, you ready to go home?" "Yeah, let me just get my stuff."

We get home and I can hear a dog barking, thinking alex has a friend home I brush it off. I walk in the door and see a little tiny lab puppy run up to me, and Alex standing there excitedly. I pick up the puppy and it instantly nuzzles into my arms. "What is this?" I say, in awe of how adorable this dog is. She's black with beautiful blue eyes. "She a husky-lab mix, got her today. What do you think?" I laugh. "We got a dog? Why did you get a dog?" He looks concerned, "I just thought it would be good to have one around, you know for when the baby's here." I walk over to him and plant a kiss on his lips. "Thank you"

We sit playing with the puppy and laughing as we try to come up with a name. "So did you get the pipes all fixed today?" "yeah, and what I couldn't get the plumber got" I laugh. "So, what do you think of sydney?" Emma asks. I smile as I look at our puppy. I don't know, I had an aunt sydney she was pretty weird" I say as a joke. "Well who's somebody whose important to you?" I think. "My second mother, Jamie-bella. She passed away a few years ago. She basically raised me." "bella? I like Bella" Emma says looking at her. "I rather like it too" Alex says. She waddles over to me, and I scoop her up. "Hi Bella" I say. She barks. "I think she likes it"

After a while of playing with her she gets tired, so we all sit down on the couch with her on Alex's lap. My phone rings and I go to pick it up. "Hey Dylan, what's up?" "Hey Norma, I just got your message, what did you need?" I laugh. "Well, let's just say you're going to have to pick up some dog food on your way here tomorrow" He laughs. "You got a dog?" "Uh-huh, husky-lab mix, 6 weeks old." "well, i'm excited to meet her" "her name's Bella" "aww" "well, i'll leave you guys alone, night Norma." "okay, love you" There's a pause and i go to hang up. "Love you too" I hear.

We snuggle in and turn on a movie. Alex is holding me, arms around me protectively. Emma is leaning on my shoulder, hand protectively on my belly. It's funny, because even at just over 12 weeks, this baby is already so important to us. Emma is already all over my belly, and there's not even a bump yet. But I really enjoy it, it's nice to get so excited in the first trimester. Normally the realness sets in once you can physically see signs like a bump or movement, but this realness is what I need right now. I also love how excited she is not only about the baby when it's born, but the pregnancy. I have always found it so cool, and I love that I can share that with someone.

After a while we all fall asleep, tired from the long day's adventures. Bella wakes up at one point and comes to rest right on my lap, clearly comfortable. I laugh as she plops down. I pet her fur a few times before I pass out again. All in all, it ended up being a great day. Looks like Emma was right.


	6. i

I wake up with the sun shining in through the window onto our bed. I roll over sleepily to see Alex looking at me. "Oh god, what are you looking at" I say. "Only the most beautiful woman in the entire world." I laugh. My long dirty blond hair looks a lions mane, the makeup is all under my eyes, and my pants have ridden down. "Uh-huh" I say with a laugh. "You don't know how beautiful you are do you? Just looking at you makes me love you even more. I can't look at you without thinking of the world beautiful. Even when you make me mad, it's all I see." his words make it hard not to crawl right on top of him. "What about in a month or two when i'm fat and ugly?" He puts his hand up to cup my cheek. "You will be 10 times more beautiful, because you're carrying my baby." He says as he looks down. "Aww, baby" I say. He wraps me up and I giggle as he tickles my neck. I squirm away and he looks at me, that same look. "God, I just love you so much." He always knows what to say…

I walk down the stairs to Emma on the couch. I can hear a few faint whimpers, and I can see the phone in her hand on her text messages to her mother. She has never been kind to her, always putting her down and being verbally abusive. I scoop her up into my arms as she cries, knowing whatever she said was more than serious. I cradle her as I kiss the top of her head, gently rocking back and forth, "shh shh, it's okay" I say as she cries into my arm. After a moment she looks up and I see a cut on her right cheek. "What happened," I say in a stern voice. "She stopped by" Was all she had to say before she was back in tears. She lifts up her shirt to show the already forming bruise and torn skin. "Alex!" I yell and he's downstairs in an instant. I show him and his face turns, not wanting to see what's happened. She lays in the back seat, crying on me from emotional and physical pain as we drive to the hospital.

They look at her to see if there are any internal problems, while it was just a punch, she has many health issues so it's best to check things out. "All good inside, but I would recommend stitches for the torn areas." I nod to her as we get up to leave. "Thank you," I say. We head out to the car, and I scoot into the back seat alongside Emma. Once I'm in she wraps her arms back around me, and I squeeze her tight. Her hand glides gently onto my stomach, and she notices the slightest rise. I see the wonder in her eyes. I'm in just a simple tank top, so even after eating a simple meal, a rise of any sort would be visible in this. Her hand stays there, firmly placed. "I love you" is all she says.

We get home and she carefully gets out, trying not to tear the stitches. It's only a few, but they still hurt like a bitch. We walk in and Bella greets us right away, wagging her tail and barking. I help her up the stairs to her room, gently placing my hand on her back in case she's woozy from the medicine they gave her. She crawls into bed and I turn out the light. "Wait, come lay with me for a bit" I look back, and I know that I can't say no to her. Even though I should be getting some sleep as well, since we've been gone for 6 hours it's now 11 at night. I crawl in next to her, and position her with her head on top of my arm, and hand on the baby. While she's not even showing any signs of existence yet, she is so real to us. I guess I shouldn't be saying she... In her woozy state she starts to talk to my belly. "Hey, you what's up? You know you're my main fetus, uh in fact you're the only fetus i've ever talke to, so props to you man. Um, do me a favor and start letting us know you're there soon. Like get fat so we can see you, or maybe start moving or something. I don't know something." she looks at me with Awe on her face. "I just felt it move!" I laugh so hard I pee a little. "No you did not feel it move. It physically can't move yet." "But, I thought I did. Maybe it was just gas?" We both laugh, and in this moment I remember why i'm here, why i'm the one to be here for her.


	7. s

Emma finally falls asleep, so I scoot out from under her and the sheets. I walk downstairs and find Alex sitting at the table with a glass of wine. "Oh god pour me one please" He gives me a look of worry. "One glass won't hurt anything." He laughs. "Fine, one glass" he pours a small one and hands it to me. "It's been a hell of a day," I say, in that tone I always use. He looks at me, with love-filled eyes. "But we're going to be fine." I feel my eyes start to water. "I am still scared. About it all, Emma, you, norman, that baby. It's a lot to worry about at once and it's hard on me." I try to hide these feelings, but with him I'm transparent, he knows how I feel whether I tell him or not. He continues looking until he finally talks. "But you can't handle it all at once. Norman is fine, he's getting better. You and the baby are perfectly healthy, and Emma will be alright. We'll take it one day at a time. And what are you worried about me for?" I realize I have to tell him how I really feel. I inhale quickly. "I'm scared that you'll leave" I say matter of factly. He has a face of disgust. "Are you serious?" He says, almost mad that I would think so. "Yeah" Is all I say. "I've never had anybody stay. And if they have only for selfish reasons. I'm scared that seeing all the hell and craziness our lives really are, is going to cause you to leave. And you might call it crazy, but I saw your face this morning with all the shit going on." He looks at me with somehow more love in his eyes than before. He walks over and cradles my hips with his hands. "I will never, ever leave. You are my wife, Emma is my daughter, this is my baby, and norman and Dylan are my boys. I don't care how crazy things get, I will deal with it. Because life without you Norma, would be a waste of a life." He brings a kiss to my lips, and my heart explodes with love. I never I could have so much love and passion for one person, I never felt like this before. But in this moment the only thing I can think is how much I love him. God I love him.

We sneak up to the bedroom and check that Emma is asleep. We slink into bed and he slowly takes off my nightdress. "I want to show you just how much I love you"...

I wake up with him holding me, arm around my hip, hand on my belly. I hear Emma downstairs, and knowing she shouldn't be up and around I get up to tell her to go back to bed. But as I walk downstairs i'm surprised to see it's Dylan. "Hey honey, What are you doing here?" He turns around, slurping the last cherrios from a bowl of milk. "Hey Norma. I just thought i'd stop by, and then decided to steal some cheerios since nobody was awake. I hope that's okay?" "Of course it is honey, help yourself to anything." He smiles, and I see him look down at my belly. In my robe you can just see the faintest rise. I wouldn't call it showing yet, since with a normal shirt on it's practically unnoticable, but still it's something. "So, how are you feeling?" I'm happy to see he cares. "Pretty good, i'm not sick as hell like with you. You know… last time I didn't get sick was with Iris, maybe that means i'm having a girl?" The mention of her feels wrong, as I don't really talk about her since it's brought me so much pain. But he smiles. "Yeah Maybe" I smile back. I hear Emma call for me. "Coming!" I shout. I walk into the room and see her trying to get up. "No, little lady you need some more rest. I'll bring up some breakfast." She starts to protest. "But i'm fine-" I cut her off. "Honey, please just stay up here, for me?" She nods. I walk back down and pull out the eggs and bacon. "Would you like me to pick up anything from the store? I'm going down quick." Dylan asks. "Uh yeah, do you think you could get some milk?" he nods. Alex walks in and places a hand on my shoulder. "Morning hon." he kisses my cheek. "Morning" I say with a smile. "What are you making?" he looks into the pan. "Just some eggs and bacon, nothing fancy." "well, it's food. So thank you." He laughs. "How'd you sleep last night?" I think. "While I did wake up an alarming amount of times to pee, It was alright." He laughs. "Well I guess you better get used to it." I smile. I'm so in love with him, just the thought of him can drive me wild. He makes me smile, and laugh, feel loved. I have never been so happy. Hell, I didn't even know happiness before him.

After breakfast I grab my keys and run out to the car. I grab a cart at the store and walk in. "Norma?" I turn around to see Christine. "Hey Christine! How are you doing?" I'm honestly surprised she's talking to me. After what happened with George, she didn't seem to like me much. "Hey, listen i'm sorry about what I said last time. I was just mad. I understand why you said what you did" I smile. "Well thank you. And I'm sorry for what I said" She smiles back at me. "Don't worry about it" There is a moment of silence. "So what's new?" I laugh, "Well, Alex and I are married, I have a new daughter, and I'm pregnant." Her face is astonished. "All that? Wow, I guess I was expecting 'not much'. Well congratulations!" I laugh. "Thanks!" "Well, i'll let you get back to your shopping, see you soon." I smile and go back to my shopping, trying to understand what just happened.

I get home and start grabbing bags to bring in. Dylan walks out and takes the bags out of my hand. "Wha, Dylan I can get the bags, it's fine." He shakes his head. "No it's fine. Let me get them." I smile at his caringness. "Okay" I set my keys down and take my jacket off, looking for signs of life in the house. Bella waddles up to me, rubbing against my leg. I bend down to pet her. "Hi puppy" I say as she whines, happy to be pet. She's growing, it's been about 3 weeks since we got her. "Alex is at the station, and Emma is upstairs sleeping." Dylan says as he comes in with 12 bags in his hands. I unpack everything, and decide to check on Emma.

I walk up to her bedroom, and hear her talking to someone. Then I realize she's crying. I walk in and hear her say mom. "No mom, i'm not coming home, not after what you did" I walk in an grab the phone. "Do me a favor and don't ever talk to my daughter again." I hang up the phone and embrace Emma. "What did she say?" I feel a tear wet my shirt. "That you were just trying to take me away from her, and that you're no good." "Oh honey, you know that's not true." She looks up at me. "Yes, I know that. You're amazing, you love me and remind me everyday, you make me good food, and take care of me when i'm sick. I love you, and you're my mom, not her." Her words touch me. "Of course, I love you too."


	8. --

Emma is doing better. She got her stitches removed yesterday, and is healing just fine. Her bruise is going away too. I flip a pancake onto her plate and she smiles up at me. Today is the kind of day that just feels right, everything is good and where it should be. I sit down and start eating as well. "So you have an appoinment today?" I smile. "Yep, 20 week check up." "That's exciting! Is it really 20 weeks already?" I look down at my stomach, and at the now present, but easily hidden bump. "Yep!" Bella comes walking in the house with a stick in her mouth and mud all over her feet. "Bella!" I yell to tell her to get out so I don't have to clean the floor yet again. She walks back out the same way she entered. "Well, I better get goin" I say as I stand up to put my plate away.

"So, what kind of symptoms are you having Norma?" I think. "Not any really, my feet have been swelling a bit, but no sickness, or back pain like with my boys." She smiles. "Well that's good. And are we going to find out the gender today?" I didn't think about that. "Um, yeah if we can." "alright well we should have a pretty good image of baby Romero today." I smile, hearing baby Romero is something I never thought i'd hear. She moves the wand around and finally lands on a beautiful picture of the baby. It's got it's hand in front of it's face, but suddenly moves it. "Can you feel that yet?" I laugh. "No, I normally don't feel it until later. At least with my other pregnancies I didn't." She nods. "Okay, well within the next few weeks you should start to feel it." "Okay" "now if we go over here, we can see that baby Romero is a beautiful healthy baby girl." I feel a tear stain my cheek. "Really?" I say, in disbelief. It's like i'm getting another chance to have the baby girl i've always wanted. Yes I have Emma, but it's different when you actually give birth to the child. "Yes Ma'am. I'll print out some pictures."

"It's a girl" He looks at me with more love than i've ever seen in one persons eyes. "Really?" He has the same disbelief as me. "Alex we're having a girl." A tear falls down both of our cheeks at he places his hands on my tiny bump. "I can't wait" He says queitly as he comes back up to my face and places a kiss on my lips.

I walk into the living room and sit down, patting my lap for bella to come sit with me. She comes to lay right under my bump, nuzzling it with her nose. I smile at their little connection. I flip through the channels and come to rest on the news. I see the lights and it brings me back. "Hey babe, guess what's tonight?" "What?" "the christmas light show" He sits next to me and smiles. "Do you remember that night?" "Our first night married? Of course I remember it. That's when I knew I really loved you." "you wanna go?" I nod, obviously I want to go back. We had always been out of town other years to visit his family, but with bella being a puppy we couldn't. "Of course."

I grab my dress off of the chair. It's a beautiful baby blue, with a diamond sparkly belt. I put it on and look in the mirror. In this dress, baby girl is on the front page. I smooth my hand over the bump. "Well I guess it's time the town knew about you." I say.

We walk into the circle of people admiring the lights and sculptures, and I notice a lot of looks. Many of surprise, I guess at my age it is pretty surprising. The town news station is here, and of course, wants a picture. "Sherrif Romero! !" They call us over. "Congratulations! How far along are you?" "20 weeks along with baby girl Romero!" I say and everybody awes. I smile, I'm not used to being the center of attention.


End file.
